Author's Note: Can't promise that all updates will come this quickly, but I already have several chapters done. Thanks for all of the reviews. Disclaimer I own none of the characters and I am making no profit from this.

edited 6/22/23

Rhett stared at Scarlett. He couldn't help himself. She had aged, but she was still beautiful in a way that no one he had ever encountered could possibly match. Her chin was too pointed, and her features too sharp, but it didn't matter to him, as it never had before. He was still arrested by her. There was still something about her that drew him to her. Hr noticed that the tasteful clothing she wore only served to highlight her thinness. There were no flounces or ruffles. It was simple and bordering on severe. It was nothing that she would have ever willingly chosen during their marriage. He knew her well enough, knew her body, despite the passing years, to know the difference between the assistance of a corset and the now apparent weight loss that sat on her frame. The only time she had ever been this thin was when she had visited him in the jail all of those years ago, and he couldn't help but worry at her current state of health. "Am I not sending enough money for you to eat properly?" he prodded. And then he immediately regretted it, because any emotion that had been flashing across her face was quickly replaced by a stone mask. He had dashed the faint glimmer of hope in her eyes that had been hiding behind her anxiety and wariness. In fact she was managing an impressive poker face. This was definitely a new Scarlett, one that he did not know. He hated feeling like he was off balance, but this change was unnerving. He had for many years prided himself on how well he knew her. But the fact that she had never tracked him down in the years since he had departed should have shown him how misguided his beliefs were. He had known when he left that she would follow after him eventually, dogging his trail as she had pursued the luckless Ashley Wilkes. But then he determined that her confession of love had only been a lie, for never in the length of time that he had known Scarlett would she accept not getting what she truly wanted.

"I'm perfectly fine, though I know you don't really care. The years haven't been terribly kind to you either. The gray is showing in your hair, in case you hadn't noticed." She snapped, her eyes simmering with rage, though her face belied a calm that her eyes did not match. "The children and I are doing just fine without you."

She started to turn away, but like lightning he was on his feet and had her wrist encircled in his vice-like grip. "No, you're not going to turn me out again. I'm going to have my say for once."

She glared at him, a glare so piercing that it cut him to the quick. "I think you said enough before you left. And since you haven't bothered to show your face since that night, I'm going to have to assume that nothing has changed." And she twisted to get away.

He stopped her though, his grip moving from her wrist to gently holding her hand in a most loverlike way, "I came to make amends, to make peace. I've been away from you for nearly as long as I knew you, and I came to apologize." He paused, watching the emotions surfacing on her face as she continued to eye him warily.. "Oh, don't be so shocked. I can say that I'm sorry."

"Oh can you? Can you really? Because as I recall you even blamed me for not calling you when I was in a delirium from nearly dying when I fell down the stairs. So pardon me, if I doubt your ability to admit fault for anything." His stricken eyes bored into hers, and she sighed then, "Rhett, I don't want to do this. I don't want the passion or fire that you brought to my life. I'm tired and weary. It has been a long day, and I'm going to my room." She extricated her hand from his softened grip.

"Scarlett, we need to talk. I wouldn't have come here to disrupt your life if it wasn't of the utmost importance."

"What do you want from me?" she cried in exasperation. "Haven't you taken enough? Haven't you done enough damage already? I'm tired, Rhett. I'm tired of everything, and I don't have the energy to fight with you about it any more."

He sighed and raked his fingers through his hair. "I was wrong. It wasn't my past that I needed to make peace with, it was you all along. And I've come to see if there is anything left here of charm and grace."

"You can't be serious, Rhett! Do you expect me to welcome you back with open arms and melt against you like the years haven't slipped away?" she glared. "It's been a decade!"

"No, I realize that nothing can fix what I broke. I didn't understand…"

But Scarlett interrupted, "and perhaps I could forgive you for how you treated me. Maybe... I am lonely, and maybe I could get past it, but how you treated the children was deplorable. Ella most of all. I think Wade was old enough to have a fair understanding of how tumultuous our marriage was, but Ella was still a little girl. That first Christmas after you left, after Bonnie died, " she paused to check his reaction to their daughter's name. "I'm not going to pretend our daughter didn't exist, but Ella wanted only two things for Christmas, two things I had no power to give her. She was a child and she wanted her sister back and she wanted her Uncle Rhett back. And yet you couldn't even be bothered to send her a gift let alone come back for appearance sake"

He recoiled at her words, "Saint Scarlett, I'm sure that if she had a better mother, then maybe she wouldn't have missed me so much." And he was immediately rewarded with an echoing slap to the face.

"Don't you dare say anything about my parenting abilities. I wasn't a perfect mother, but I tried, and I was here. The same can't be said for you." She whispered fiercely at him, still not rising to the bait of his insults like she once had.

And then the door was opened and they both could see Ella standing in the doorframe, Her red hair aflame around her face, the emerald eyes glinting like hard stone. The gas lights created a glowing silhouette against the darkness. "Uncle Rhett, I think you should leave. Maybe the kindest thing you did to us was leave when you did. I won't allow you to speak to or about mother like that. You have no idea how she has been since you left, how she has worked herself to the bone to take care of us. There never was a mother that worked harder to provide for her children, and you have no right to imply that she is a bad mother. She made Wade and I strong. So I think you should just leave, and don't bother coming back."

Rhett groaned. "This is all going wrong. I came to apologize and make amends. I didn't come to toss barbed comments and insinuations."

"Oh there were not insinuations. You were very clear in what you thought of my ability to parent. You told me that a cat was a better parent than I was." Scarlett spat.

Instead of retorting back at her, he slouched onto the chair, his hand to his head , leaning his forehead into his palm. "I realized after about a year that I was looking for what I needed in the wrong places. For that first year after Bonnie's death," he struggled for a moment to continue, "for that first year, I feel like I was trapped in this fog of grief and sadness. I couldn't feel anything. I was merely existing, and I sometimes wished that I no longer existed, but then I knew that I would be apart from Bonnie even more completely than I already was, and I couldn't do that. And then when the year had passed, that fog started to lessen, I realized how poorly I had treated all of you, but I was afraid to come back and be rejected. Yes I was afraid of something, but really I was afraid to face the consequences of my actions and words. It has taken me this long to finally face the music. Ella, I'm so sorry for abandoning you. You deserved so much better. And Scarlett," he paused, looking up at her to find that both she and Ella were standing like statues watching him. "Scarlett, I was so wrong, and so stubborn and certain that I knew everything. I was a fool. And yes, though it has taken a decade, I can finally admit my mistakes to the people that I need to admit them to." A grin finally broke across the anguish on his face, "Ella, you might want to catch your mother. I think she might faint as I've admitted that I was wrong. I don't know that her heart can take the shock."

Scarlett's eyes grew misty, and then Rhett rose to his feet, only to kneel in front of Scarlett. "It has taken far too long for me to come to my senses, but I am so sorry for the deplorable way that I've treated you. I love you, and I'm asking you if you will be my wife again."

Scarlett shook her head,confusion clouding her eyes. "Rhett, that is ridiculous. I am still your wife… unless you've done something that I know nothing about."

"No, we are still married. But I would like to be a part of your life again. I want to be Ella's father again, more than just financially. I am tired of chasing ghosts and hiding from my past. I want us to live together again and be the family that we should have been when the children were small."

Ella clasped her mother's hand. "Mother, you know that you missed him. You haven't so much as noticed another man since he left. He has apologized and admitted he was wrong. That has to say something about how much he has changed."

Scarlett pulled away from Rhett, dragging Ella with her. "I can't just allow him to waltz back into our lives like he's done nothing wrong."

"But he's admitting that he has been wrong." Ella nodded towards Rhett.

"Just let him carry the burdens for you, or at least share them. You've done so well mother to be our only parent, but I know you've been lonely. I know that you think we can't hear you at night, but I know there are many nights you've cried."

"Ella," Scarlett swept her hands over Ella's curls in a comforting gesture. "I'm sorry you heard that. But I am fine."

While they had been talking, Rhett had risen and moved to where they hovered near the door. He finally grabbed Scarlett's hand and pulled her to him. He pulled her stiffened form into his arms, pulling her close. Though she protested at first, "Rhett, let me go. Rhett, what on earth do you think that you're doing?" But he soothed her, "Just let me hold you, just for a moment. It has been too long, and I need to hold you to show you how sorry I am." It made no sense, but Scarlett's protest died on her lips, and then she began to melt into his embrace. It had indeed been far too long, and in his arms was one of the only places that she had ever felt completely safe. And then the moment was gone, and Rhett took a step back, but one hand remained on her arms, rubbing a gentle path along her arm. "I really am sorry Scarlett."

And she sputtered out her assent to his request to return home without really being aware of it. There was something about his presence that almost dulled her senses and then lifewise brought them to life. And so Rhett was back in their lives and in Atlanta. And now father had finally come home. Of course Ella knew better than to expect her mother and Uncle Rhett to allow things to run smoothly, but perhaps both had changed enough. Although she doubted that Wade would be as welcoming as she had been. And it wouldn't be too long before Wade was due back in town. And he would return to an unwanted surprise.

For the evening, everything was left to surface topics. Ella filled Uncle Rhett in on things that she had done and they ate dinner together before retiring for the night. Ella thought how odd it was for someone to be sleeping in Uncle Rhett's room again. But mother had left it exactly how he had left it, and it seemed like for a moment that the years had not slipped by so quickly.